


YOU'RE MORE TO ME THAN I KNOW HOW TO SAY

by DeanLantern



Series: HalBarry week 2018 [3]
Category: DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 07:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanLantern/pseuds/DeanLantern
Summary: Someone keeps putting poems into Barry's locker. Does he have a secret admirer?HalBarry week 2018 DAY 3: RomanceFIRST MEETING or DATE or STARS





	YOU'RE MORE TO ME THAN I KNOW HOW TO SAY

**Author's Note:**

> When I wrote this, I didn't even realize today would be Valentine's Day. ^^° I just thought the idea would be cute. The poems are all by Emily Dickinson and they might sound a bit more romantic than they are. I really like her poems so it was a no-brainer for me to use them here. The title is from "Must have done something right" by Relient K which always reminds me of the two.  
> So happy Valentine's Day to you all. :D

Barry sighed again before he opened his locker. But instead of having only his books in it something else was in there as well. Barry didn’t notice it at first but when he wanted to grab his history book, his eyes fell on a piece of paper that had fallen out of his locker. At first Barry expected it to be some kind of prank. Sure, even as a nerd he wasn’t at the complete bottom of the food chain but sometimes people (and especially some of the jocks) still picked on him. He was weird and knew it, too. So he made an easy target. If it wasn’t for his best friend Hal who was the Quarterback of the school’s football team, his teammates would probably easily single Barry out for bullying. Speaking of Hal, he was most likely still busy with his admirers that seemed to follow him everywhere. Especially after practice in the morning. He picked up the piece of paper and discovered that it had words written on it.

> _That I did always love,_  
>  _I bring thee proof:_  
>  _That till I loved_  
>  _I did not love enough._  
>    
> _That I shall love alway,_  
>  _I offer thee_  
>  _That love is life,_  
>  _And life hath immortality._  
>    
> _This, dost thou doubt, sweet?_  
>  _Then have I_  
>  _Nothing to show_  
>  _But Calvary._

  
Was that a love poem? For him? Had someone gotten the wrong locker? He tried to remember who had the lockers right next to him and came up with Hartley Rathaway who wasn’t that overly popular and Leonard Snart who while kinda handsome, already had a boyfriend. Not that that counted out another admirer but Barry didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to try to come between Leonard and Mick. So back to the question if the poem was really meant for him. It was certainly pretty romantic as far as Barry could tell between all the thous and thees. Did he have a secret admirer himself? Because Barry certainly couldn’t come up with another student who would have picked him of all people. Not that Barry was ugly but he sure as hell wasn’t gifted in the physical department like his best friend Hal. Who was now coming towards him. Speak of the devil and all that.  
When Hal came to stand before him, he noticed the piece of paper in Barry’s hand and suddenly seemed quite curious.  
“What do you have there?”  
Because he didn’t want Hal to make fun of him for getting something as cheesy as a love poem he crumbled the letter and closed his fist around it. Hal’s face fell a bit; most likely because he couldn’t sate his curiosity.  
“Nothing special. Just a prank.”  
Hal planted himself in front of Barry.  
“Do I need to have words with someone again?”  
Barry knew Hal’s special brand of ‘having words’ with someone and he knew that so close to an important game, his best friend really couldn’t need the trouble of having punched someone.  
“No. I’m fine. It’s just a note. Nothing more.”  
Hal angled his head a bit to the side and looked at him intently. Barry knew that Hal most likely saw right through his lie seeing as Hal was far smarter than most people gave him credit for. Hal liked science like Barry himself did and if he had to pick the most likely to be able to recite Shakespeare, he would count on Hal for it.  
“If you say so, buddy.”  
They went to physics together and after laughing at Hal’s ridiculous jokes during the experiment they had to do, he had forgotten about the note. Until a new one appeared on the next day.  
This time when he opened the locker, Leonard and Mick were standing next to him and once again a small letter fell down to the ground. But before Barry could make a grab for it, Snart had already picked it up. He read the first few lines and then looked at Barry with a raised eyebrow.

“Never expected you to like Emily Dickinson, Allen.”

Leonard held out the now folded note to Barry between his fore and middle finger. Leonard “Len” Snart was as tall as Barry and had the iciest blue eyes Barry had ever seen. His cold nature had often earned him the moniker of an ice queen. They weren’t really friends but Barry sometimes talked to Len when they were at their lockers together.

“I don’t. I mean, it’s not mine.”

The other eyebrow joined the first one.

“Yeah, never figured you for a thief. Much less one of poems from other people.”

“I’m not a thief!” Barry hissed and several people turned around at that. He laughed nervously until the turned around again and finally ripped the letter out of Len’s hand.

“They are mine but someone keeps putting them in my locker.”

“Ah, secret admirer.” Mick finally said something.   
He was more of the quiet sort and usually left the talking to his boyfriend. But when he did talk, Barry often got the feeling Mick Rory had the same problem as Hal: people kept assuming they were dumb when they really weren’t.

Barry nodded. He had already come to the same possible conclusion the day before. So he just had to figure out who kept leaving the letters in his locker.

“But who is it?” Barry asked out loud.

Len and Mick started grinning at that. They had probably seen who had put the letter there or at least had an idea. Barry narrowed his eyes at first before he looked down at the poem again.

> _Of all the souls that stand create_  
>  _I have elected one._  
>  _When sense from spirit files away,_  
>  _And subterfuge is done;_  
>    
> _When that which is and that which was_  
>  _Apart, intrinsic, stand,_  
>  _And this brief tragedy of flesh_  
>  _Is shifted like a sand;_  
>    
> _When figures show their royal front_  
>  _And mists are carved away,—_  
>  _Behold the atom I preferred_  
>  _To all the lists of clay!_

  
The words really did sound pretty. Barry had never been a fan of poems no matter how much Hal tried to convince him otherwise.

“You do realize that today is Valentine’s day, right?”

“What?”

Barry looked up from the note. He must have really spaced out because Len looked a little annoyed by now.

“It’s Valentine’s day. So there’s a pretty big chance that whoever put the poems in your locker is going to say something to you today.”

Had Barry really forgotten about Valentine’s day? For him it was a normal day as any other but you still took notice thanks to all the flowers and couples around you. How could he not have noticed?  
He folded the letter again and put it into the front pocket of his jeans. Either he would figure it out today or he wouldn’t. He couldn’t help hoping that it was a certain person he had like for quite a while now. But Barry would just have to wait and see.

In that moment, Hal appeared again down the hall. He must have shaken off his admirers for the moment who must have been even more than usual on Valentine’s day. He spotted Barry and jogged up to him.

“Hey Bar.”

“Hey Hal.”

Barry smiled at his best friend. He wondered how many secret admirers Hal had had by now. He remembered fourth grade when the girls, and some boys, started taking interest in his best friend and kept handing him letters with hearts and glitter on them. Hal kept jumping from one girlfriend to the other which had given him the reputation of a heart breaker. But about a year ago, that suddenly stopped after a breakup with his then girl friend Carol Ferris. Back when he was younger, Barry had often thought about writing Hal a letter himself. Just with less glitter and hearts but the thought was still there.

“Thanks Len. See you, Mick.”

He waved the other two farewell and left with Hal towards their next class.

After their last class, Barry brought his books back to his locker. He was a bit disappointed that no one had come forth and admitted that they were his secret admirer and had constantly been distracted throughout the day so much that Hal kept sending him weird looks.

But when he opened his locker, there was another note glued to the back of the locker door. Barry couldn’t quite believe his eyes. Who else knew his locker combination? He could only name a hand full of people who had ever stood next to his locker when he unlocked it and most of them were distracted because they were talking to him. So how had someone gotten in? He plucked it off the door and read through it. Until he came to the last line on the page. It was signed.

> _My river runs to thee:_  
>  _Blue sea, wilt welcome me?_  
>    
> _My river waits reply._  
>  _Oh sea, look graciously!_  
>    
> _I’ll fetch thee brooks_  
>  _From spotted nooks,—_  
>    
> _Say, sea,_  
>  _Take me!_
> 
> _\- Hal_

Barry couldn’t really believe it. Hal was his secret admirer? Or was it just to make Barry feel better that he hadn’t ever gotten anything on Valentine’s day? But Hal wasn’t that cruel. Sure he liked to make fun of him in a teasing matter from time to time but Hal wasn’t anywhere close to being cruel.

Then he heard someone clearing their throat behind him and when he turned around it was Hal of all people. Barry really shouldn’t be surprised by that but he was anyway.

“Hey.” Hal said and ran a hand through his brown hair. “I didn’t really know how to tell you.” For probably the first time in his entire life, Hal Jordan looked embarrassed. “And everyone likes love poems and well, everyone but you. Ugh, I messed this up, didn’t I?”

Hal started to turn around but Barry instinctively grabbed his arm to keep him from running.

“No!” He shouted and then quieter. “No. They’re great. I really liked them.”

Hal was a few inches taller than him so Barry looked up at him a bit through his lashes, suddenly taken over by bashfulness.

“You did?”

Hal had turned fully around again and looked much less likely to run now but Barry still didn’t let go of his arm and only gripped it harder. He couldn’t believe that this was happening to him. He had liked Hal for so long and now it really seemed that Hal did, too.

“Hey Barry?”

“Hmm?”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

Barry smiled brightly.

“Yeah. I would.”


End file.
